I’ve been afraid a lot lately. Afraid of the avian flu. Afraid that we get closer every day to climate collapse. Afraid for federal workers losing their jobs, what that means for them and for us. Afraid of what disinformation and polarization are doing to friendships, families, and communities.  

I turned this week to Cole Arthur Riley’s Black Liturgies and her meditations on fear. Here are a few tidbits from her and others she quotes: 

When fear rushed in, I learned how to hear my heart racing. but refused to allow my feelings to sway me. (Coretta Scott King) 

Sometimes fear is the most credible emotion we have access to. Sometimes we have everything to fear. More often than we realize, fear is a protective intuition. It is what keeps you from driving with no headlights on, from touching your hand to flame…We don’t have to demonize our fear to survive it. For this reason, I have an aversion to language of “conquering” our fears. We are not at war with ourselves; it is better to listen with compassion. 

When we are silent/we are still afraid/So it is better to speak (Audre Lourde) 

 My young adult children and I stayed up late last night talking about all this. There is no way I can tell them, “Don’t be afraid.” Instead, I came back to what I always do—we are the ones we’ve been waiting for. Our BIPOC, LGTBQ, and other friends of targeted identities have known for centuries that there is no chariot coming to save them. They haven’t counted on legitimization from the government even as they have continued to fight for it. Instead, they have created networks of mutual aid and resistance and created a lot of community along the way. 

That’s all I know to tell my children—let your fear drive you into the arms of one another, but don’t let it have the last word. Cole ends her meditation on fear with some prayers—here are a few more tidbits: 

When no amount of courage can diminish fear’s power over us, remind us that we too have power as we rise to meet it.  

Remind us that fear and wisdom have a sacred relationship, developing our intuition as a spiritual gift. Show us how to fear for others out of love…Do not let fear keep us in perpetual flight, but let it usher us into community, drawing us into the safe embrace of others. 

And her benediction: 

May you live each day with sacred intuition to the terrors of this world. But may you never be swallowed by them. 

 That’s my prayer for you, too. Hang in there with each other.